10:47 AM, March 11, 2013

Former President Richard Nixon speaks at a press conference in March 1973. / CHARLES TASNADI/Associated Press

'Kilpatrick Enterprise' trial coverage

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and his longtime contractor friend Bobby Ferguson were convicted in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were accused in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by rigging City of Detroit contracts through the mayor's office. Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, Ferguson was found guilty on nine of 11 counts and Bernard Kilpatrick was convicted on one of four counts. A fourth defendant, former water department director Victor Mercado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy during the trial and awaits sentencing.

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American history records a fair share of knaves, rogues, scoundrels and just plain crooks who managed to get elected and then got into a ton of trouble.

Here’s a quick look at some national and Michigan elected leaders who ran afoul of the law.

National

Richard M. Nixon: President, 1969-74: OK, he didn’t serve time but it took a presidential pardon from Gerald Ford to keep him from facing a federal judge — and possibly jail. Nixon was implicated in the conspiracy to obstruct justice over a break-in at the Democratic National Party headquarters at a Washington venue named Watergate.

Bill Clinton: President, 1993-2001: He was impeached for obstruction of justice and perjury related to his early denial of sexual encounters with a young White House intern. But his trial before the U.S. Senate did not result in a guilty verdict, which would have removed him from office.

Spiro Agnew: Vice President, 1969-73:Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to charges he orchestrated kickback schemes while a public official in Maryland. His plea and resignation kept him out of jail.

House members

Numerous U.S. representatives have lost their jobs for fraud or other illegal acts. Here are some of the more recent names:

Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill.: Served 17 months in prison for mail fraud. He was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee until he was indicted on corruption charges in 1994. He died in 2010.

Tom Delay, R-Texas: He was House majority leader until he was charged with money laundering and lost his seat. Now he’s appealing a three-year prison sentence.

Jim Wright, D-Texas: Speaker of the House in the late 1980s when he resigned amid ethics charges.

James Traficant, D-Ohio: He was expelled from the House after being convicted of taking bribes, racketeering and filing false tax returns. He served seven years in prison and was released in 2009.

Local

Numerous elected officials around metro Detroit have served time or lost jobs because of illegal behavior. One was a U.S. Representative:

Charles Diggs: U.S. Rep. from Detroit from 1955 until he resigned in 1980 following his conviction for fraud. He served seven months in prison.

Monica Conyers: Former Detroit City Council member pleaded guilty in 2009 to federal bribery charges. She served 27 months in a federal prison and then several weeks in a halfway house before her release in January. She’s now on home confinement until May.

Alonzo Bates: Former Detroit City Council member convicted in 2006 of federal charges that he put relatives on the city payroll. Bates began his 33-month sentence in 2009.

Basil Brown: A Democratic state senator from Highland Park, Brown was charged with delivering and possessing cocaine and marijuana. He pleaded guilty, but appealed saying authorities entrapped him. After court battles for seven years, a judge tossed the drug charges.

Casmer Ogonowski: A Democratic state house member from Detroit, he pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges in 1982.

Monte Geralds: The Madison Heights Democrat was ousted by the state House when he refused to resign after he was convicted in 1978 of embezzlement. Mayors of Detroit

Charles Bowles: Only big city mayor to be recalled, after serving seven months as Detroit mayor in 1930. Those were some pretty notorious months — crime soared and charges of corruption spread rapidly. Never indicted, Bowles tried and failed at political comebacks. For much of his political career, he had the support of local Ku Klux Klan members.

Richard Reading, mayor, 1938-40: Two years after he lost re-election, he was indicted for scheming to run a protection racket with some 80 Detroit police officers. He was sentenced to nearly five years in prison.

Louis Miriani: He was mayor from 1957 until Jerome Cavanagh took office in 1962. Later as a member of City Council, Miriani got in trouble over income tax evasion, was convicted and served nearly a year in prison.